CONTACT The Phoenix Project Journal 020306 - Phoenix Source ...
CONTACT The Phoenix Project Journal 020306 - Phoenix Source ...
CONTACT The Phoenix Project Journal 020306 - Phoenix Source ...
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Page 22 <strong>CONTACT</strong>: THE PHOENIX PROJECT JOURNAL MARCH 6, 2002<br />
UK GIVES GO-AHEAD FOR HUMAN CLONING<br />
By Emma Young, NewScientist.com, 2/28/02<br />
In December 2000, the British government<br />
passed a law permitting the cloning of early embryos<br />
to provide stem cells for experimentation and medical<br />
treatments. But such research was put on hold,<br />
awaiting the conclusions of a House of Lords select<br />
committee report on stem cell research.<br />
In that report, published on Wednesday, the<br />
committee approved both research on embryonic stem<br />
cells, with a view to developing new treatments for<br />
disease, and therapeutic cloning, involving the cloning<br />
of embryos up to 14 days old. It also backed calls<br />
for the establishment of a UK stem cell bank.<br />
<strong>The</strong>rapeutic cloning could provide treatment cells that<br />
would not be rejected by the patient. But the committee<br />
thinks cloning of early embryos is more likely to be used<br />
as a research tool, to better understand the behaviour of<br />
adult stem cells and how they might be manipulated.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is “a powerful case for its use”, the committee says.<br />
<strong>The</strong> way is now clear for the regulatory body,<br />
the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority,<br />
to issue licences for such work.<br />
Embryo or Adult<br />
Scientists hope that stem cells could be used to treat<br />
a wide variety of diseases, including Parkinson’s and<br />
Alzheimer’s. Anti-abortion campaigners argue that adult<br />
stem cells could be as effective as similar cells from<br />
embryos. But the committee disagreed.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re is a clear scientific case for continued<br />
research on embryonic stem (ES) cells, in order that the<br />
full potential of adult stem cells for therapy can be<br />
realised and because it is likely that some therapies will<br />
need to use ES cells,” the report says.<br />
“Recent research on adult stem cells also holds promise<br />
of therapies and research on them should be strongly<br />
encouraged by funding bodies and the government,” it says.<br />
But “to ensure maximum medical benefit it is necessary<br />
to keep both routes to therapy open at present, since<br />
neither alone is likely to meet all therapeutic needs”.<br />
Fundamental research on ES cells should provide<br />
new insights on how to isolate, grow and differentiate<br />
adult stem cells into new types of cell, it says.<br />
But the committee says the government should<br />
undertake a further review scientific progress in<br />
the field towards the end of the decade.<br />
Cell Bank<br />
<strong>The</strong> UK Department of Health has previously called for<br />
a stem cell bank to be established. This bank would hold all<br />
adult and embryonic stem cell lines generated in the UK. <strong>The</strong><br />
committee has given strong support to this proposal.<br />
“Before granting any new licence to establish<br />
human ES cell lines, the HFEA should satisfy itself<br />
that there are no existing ES cell lines in the bank<br />
suitable for the proposed research.”<br />
In the U.S., publicly funded researchers are<br />
restricted to working only on existing U.S.<br />
embryonic stem cell lines. Regulations in the UK<br />
are the most liberal in the world.<br />
UK action group Comment on Reproductive Ethics<br />
says the committee’s conclusions were “a foregone<br />
conclusion”. It says: “<strong>The</strong> conclusion we have reached<br />
after looking at the oral presentation of scientific<br />
evidence to the select committee is that it has been<br />
relentlessly biased towards the benefits of cell nuclear<br />
replacement and embryonic stem cell work.”